Leon Osman: Away tie will suit our style
LEON OSMAN insists Everton will go into Thursday's make or break UEFA Cup tie in Liege in a positive frame of mind because they're more suited to playing away from home than they are at Goodison Park.
David Moyes's side must either defeat Standard on their own ground in two days time or record a score draw of 3-3 or more if they're to eliminate the Belgian champions and secure their place in the group stage of the UEFA Cup.
It's the second consecutive season that Everton have gone into the return leg of their European first round tie following a home draw but last term they got the 3-2 win to put them through away at Ukrainians Metalist Kharkiv and went on to finish the group stage with a 100% record from their four matches.
However, this week's encounter is expected to be a much sterner test and Osman and his team-mates know that they'll have to be on the top of their game to avoid their European adventure ending almost as soon as it has started.
After enduring a frustrating summer in the transfer market, Moyes has seen his team start the new season in disappointing fashion and failure to progress in Liege would complete a miserable eight days for the club following a Carling Cup exit at Blackburn and derby defeat to Liverpool.
Osman though insists that the Liege tie is far from over, especially given that Everton have had more impressive results away from Goodison Park so far this season.
In the Premier League, Moyes's side have lost all three of their home games but they are unbeaten away with two wins and a draw.
Osman said: "We're better suited for playing away from home as proved in the Premier League this season.
"We're not going there to keel over, we're going there to get the positive result we need to get through.
"I'm sure our fans will go out there and make as much noise as they can."
He added: "It's only half-time.
"It's definitely not over by any stretch of the imagination.
"Liege will be pretty pleased with the result they got in the first leg but as everyone will know we've been better away from home so far this season so we're still confident."
Everton know that they must get at least one goal in Belgium if they're to go through and Osman is hoping that despite the team's defensive fragility so far this season, they will always be in with a chance of scoring.
He said: "We knew it would be tough but we also knew we'd be able to score goals against them.
"Liege are a good team and it was a good test.
"Nobody wanted to concede two goals in the first leg at home but we scored two of our own and will look to take the positives from that game and will be raring to go in the away leg."
Osman reckons that the goalscoring threat of Ayegbeni Yakubu will also be a big factor as the Nigerian striker can fashion a chance out of nothing.
Yakubu, who netted 21 goals in his debut season at Goodison last term, scored Everton's opener in the first leg at Goodison - his fourth strike in the opening five games of the campaign - but has failed to register in his last three outings.
Osman said: "Sometimes the Yak can have a fantastic game and score two but even if he's having an absolute nightmare he's liable to pop up with a goal and his goals are important to us."
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